United Bank Limited (UBL) has been declared as the country's best bank in terms of its most significant contributions to national development and effective management of resources. A five-member jury of experts at Pakistan Banking Awards 2016 also declared MCB Bank, Bank Alfalah Limited (BAFL), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Meezan Bank and Tameer Microfinance Bank (TMB) as winners in seven other categories of banking industry.
MCB won the best bank award for corporate finance and capital market development, Meezan Bank for Islamic banking and BAFL for customer franchise. HBL and TMB each clinched two awards. Habib Bank, the jury thought, bested environmental, social and governance and for small business and agriculture and TMB was rated excellent in banking the unbanked segments of society and providing micro financing to the small borrowers.
Dawn Media Group, Institute of Bankers Pakistan (IBP) and A.F. Ferguson and Company collaborated to honour excellence and innovation in banking through holding the maiden but well-attended award ceremony which was graced by Governor State Bank of Pakistan Ashraf Mehmood Wathra as a chief guest. Led by former SBP Governor Syed Salim Raza, the jury comprised CEO Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance Fuad Azim Hashimi, Chairwoman State Life Insurance Corporation Nargis Ghaloo, former Banking Ombudsman and Country Head of SCB Pakistan Azhar Hamid and former Regional Head of Citibank Middle East and Pakistan Shehzad Naqvi.
The awards were presented here at Mohatta Palace Museum by SBP Governor Wathra, Hussain Lawai of IBP, Shabbar Zaidi of A.F Ferguson and Hameed Haroon and Umber Haroon Sehgal of Dawn Media Group. In his shortened speech, the Governor State Bank thanked the organisers of the awards ceremony who, he said, had made Karachi see a maiden and "well conducted" banking awards event. "Karachi had never seen such an event wherein bankers as a community were present to be honoured," said the governor. While Hussain Lawai of IBP congratulated all the winners in a vote of thanks, ex-SBP Governor Salim Raza earlier presented a comparative analysis of Pakistan's and international banking industry.
The banker said banks in the world's biggest economies like United States and Japan were facing consolidation and contraction because of rapid credit expansion which today was haunting major emerging ?markets.
Contrary to that, Raza said, banks in Pakistan were in a completely different position primarily because of their big reserves deposits. He, however, expressed concern on "indirect subsidy" the cash-strapped government was giving to the risk-averse banks in the face of profit on risk-free government securities like t-bills, Pakistan Investment Bonds and Ijara Sukuk (Islamic bonds). In 2008, he explained through a slide, the banks' lending to private and public sectors stood at 70 and 30 percent of their total financing. As of March 2016, he said, the situation was other way around.
Urging the policymakers to introduce "fundamental changes and strategies" in the financial sector laws, he said the commercial banks too should start giving large finances to the growth-oriented private sector. About the criterion his jury had used to rate the banks, Raza said, excellence and a little bit of new directions were focused on. Shabbar Zaidi said his countrymen's reluctance to appreciate successes persuaded him to participate in the Award ceremony as a partner. Hameed Haroon of Dawn Group welcomed the guests.
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